Let Me Love You
by Mahanny
Summary: Steroline. Set after 6x10. Liz died and Caroline turned her humanity off. Stefan looks for ways to bring it back.
1. Chapter 1

STEROLINE.

Stefan was reading and sitting in one of the armchairs next to the fireplace when Caroline's presence made him look up from the book. The girl came from the kitchen with a bag of blood in her hand, but that was not what caught his attention. Caroline was in underwear and had her hair up. Stefan swallowed and put the book on the small table.

"Caroline" he called her. Caroline stopped before returning upstairs and looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

Liz had passed away a month ago and Caroline had turned off her humanity as a result of it a week later, as she could not deal with what had happened. Stefan wanted to keep an eye on her and therefore he had invited her to live in his house, knowing it would be what Liz would want. Caroline's behaviour was the typical one of any vampire who had turned their emotions. Stefan had found a lot of people hanging around the house more than once. Those people were the daily menu of Caroline, but fortunately he could always kick them out before Caroline tore their throats. Stefan scratched his chin, trying not to look her up and down.

"You can't stroll through the house like this" Stefan said, looking behind her toward the stairs. "We could have guests or…"  
"I don't think anyone feels like coming to the boring Salvatore house" the girl said, laughing.  
"Even so, you should put a towel or something, don't you think?"  
"Relax, Stefan. I'm sure you've seen a girl wearing underwear more than once" Stefan looked at Caroline's eyes. They were cold, distant and empty eyes. "And this is a good sign because I had still had feelings for you, I wouldn't be able to stroll like this in front of you. Besides, who you think you are? My friend? Don't forget that you're nobody in my life since you decided to leave me alone months ago. I hope you like the taste of your own medicine.

Caroline smirked and took a sip of her blood bag. Stefan watched her as she went upstairs, not being able to help feeling a shiver down her spine and stomach. He knew he had not the slightest right to observe her that way, but it was hard when she walked with so little clothes at home. He looked for ways to give her humanity back to her every day, but he was not able to reach any solution. He missed her and knew that if he expressed his feelings to her at the time, Caroline would not feel anything. He needed her to be who she really was again in order to tell her how much he loved her at once. But it seemed that this day would never come.


	2. Chapter 2

Stefan got out of the car with Damon and they both looked at each other puzzled and frowning when they heard the loud music that sounded inside the house. Damon rolled his eyes and hissed.

"You should do something to calm her down" Damon said to him. Stefan opened the door and saw dozens of people drinking, dancing and having fun. Elena ran to meet them.  
"I've tried to kick them out and lock her in her room but it was impossible."  
"Why is this familiar to me?" Stefan wondered to himself.  
"Yeah, why don't you turn your humanity off too and dance like crazy together? Like the old times" Damon told Elena, who looked askance.  
"I'll see if I can find her" Stefan said. "Compel them to leave and I..."  
"Stefan, you should know something before you look for her" Elena said, wincing. Stefan looked at her, confused. "Enzo… He's here. Caroline had invited him."

Stefan clenched his jaw and nodded. Elena and Damon went into the crowd and Stefan went upstairs as fast as he could. All he had to do was follow the trail of blood. He opened the door of a room fearing the worst.  
Caroline licked her fingers as she was watching through a window while Enzo was feeding from the neck of a girl. Stefan grabbed him by the neck and pushed him away from the girl. Enzo, who had hit the wall, looked at him with rage as he wiped his mouth. Carline looked at them as if she cared of nothing and Stefan compelled the girl to forget and leave immediately.

"This is the last time, you've heard me?" Stefan told Caroline, who ignored him.  
"Don't listen to him, gorgeous. You're free to do whatever you feel like" Enzo said. Stefan turned around to face him.  
"What are you doing?" Stefan asked him. "How can you allow her to do all of this to herself?"  
"It was her decision and there's no way to restore her humanity at the moment. Do you have any better ideas, Stefan?"

If looks could kill, Enzo and Stefan would be dust.

"C'mon Caroline" Stefan said, getting closer to her, "I'll help you…"

Enzo ran at vamp-speed and stepped between them, stopping Stefan with his hand.

"She hasn't said the party is over."

Stefan, without thinking twice, punched Enzo's jaw with his fist. Enzo punched him in the stomach. Caroline rolled her eyes. In the blink of an eye and without knowing how, Enzo had cornered Stefan and had a piece of wooden in hand. He was ready to stab it in his heart when Caroline ran at vamp-speed and pushed Enzo away just in time.

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked Enzo. Stefan looked into her eyes, looking for some glimmer of humanity in them. The girl had decided to save him and that was a good sign. Caroline stared at him too, mouth open, not knowing what to say for a few seconds, but eventually found the words. "I've got bored of this party."

Caroline left the room. Enzo followed her and Stefan smiled slightly.


	3. Chapter 3

"So she saved you from Enzo" Damon said, giving a drink to a bottle while watching the firelight.  
"That's good, right? Normally when you turn your humanity off, you're not worried about anyone dying" Elena said.

Stefan nodded. Actually, he was very satisfied. Caroline had shown no sign of humanity until that afternoon and that was a big step. Since then, she had locked herself in her room and Stefan was hoping she was going back to what she was.  
It was getting dark, so Stefan had decided to her a tea to her room, but when he opened the door, Caroline was already sleeping, curled up in bed. He put the tea on the bedside table and lay down quietly next to her. The messy curls falling over her face and she had her cheeks rosy. With that aspect, she seemed helpless.  
Stefan brushed her fair from her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb. Then he led his lips toward her cheek and gave her a gentle kiss. Before pulling away, he stayed very still near her lips. He was a few millimeters away from her mouth and the only thing he could think was kissing her. He closed his eyes tightly and dropped his head on the pillow. She moved a bit and gripped Stefan's shirt with her fingers while throwing a sigh in her sleep. Stefan opened his eyes and saw that now her head was resting on his chest. He led his hand toward her hair and caressed it gently while he was watching her tenderly. Then, Caroline groaned and opened her eyes.

Stefan was ready for the worst of her reactions. Caroline rose quickly to put distance between them, stumbling and falling out of the bed. Stefan grinned and ran to help her stand up, but Caroline took his hands off her.

"What were you doing?" Caroline asked, as if she was about to lose control.  
"I… I had brought some tea. I thought…"  
"No, what were you doing there?" she asked again, pointing to the bed and breathing rapidly.  
"Caroline, listen…" Stefan got closer to her and before Caroline could shove him, he grabbed hard her wrists. "I've seen your eyes this afternoon when you've saved me from Enzo. I know there's something there and you have to hold on to it."  
"Let me go" Caroline said, pulling away his hands and meeting his eyes accidentally. Stefan was going to try again but Caroline pushed him into the hall and slammed the door in his face. Stefan clenched his jaw and dropped his head against the door, listening how Caroline put the latch. "Caroline, please…  
"Go away, Stefan."

Stefan noticed something different in her voice. Was it pain, angst, grief?


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure this will work?" Elena asked, looking at the trunk/safe in which Silas had locked Stefan two years ago.  
"It helped me" Stefan said, looking at the trunk with his arms crossed.  
"But how will this help Caroline? Is she afraid of enclosed spaces or what?" Damon asked, frowning.  
"I needed something as narrow as possible so that Caroline can't escape. Thus, when I talk to her, she won't kick me out.

Damon and Elena looked at each other and the looked at Stefan, nodding.

"It's not what you're thinking" Stefan warned, rolling his eyes.  
"Stefan, you want to spend some time alone with your girl. Relax, we get it" Damon said.  
"I said that's not it."  
"Okay, how we manage to put Caroline in there?" Elena asked.

A few hours later, Elena and Caroline went downstairs. Elena was telling her about many things of college and the blonde let out rude comments from time to time or simply ignored her. Elena guided her to the library, when Damon was sitting in an armchair with crossed feet on the table.

"What is that trunk doing there?" Caroline asked, pointing to it with a frown.  
"What?" Damon asked. "If you're worried about Stefan, calm down, he came out of it months ago."  
"I'm not worried about Stefan."

Damon and Elena looked at each other and after doing a signal, the two grabbed Caroline by force and dragged her to the trunk. Elena opened the door and they both put her into it. Then, they closed the door.

"What are you doing?!" Caroline asked, hitting the door from inside with their fists.  
"I don't think it'll be useful" Stefan said. Caroline startled when he heard him and looked at him. Stefan shrugged and Caroline hit the door again, trying to open it as she averted her gaze.  
"See you in an hour!" Elena cried from outside. Caroline stopped hitting the door and crossed her arms, pursing her lips together.

There was no distance between them and it was noticeable that it was hard to be so close to each other for both of them. Caroline tried not to touch him, but it was impossible due to the limited space since Stefan did not put any distance between their bodies.

"Well, what do you wanna do while we're here? Talking, sleeping, mmm… playing I spy?" Stefan asked, looking straight into her eyes.  
"What about killing you and them?" Caroline asked ironically still staring at the door. Stefan smiled. "If you think this will be of some help…"  
"I don't know if it will do any good, but we can spend eternity here. You know? Locked."

Caroline looked at him, but when their eyes met, she looked away quickly. Stefan frowned.

"Why do you always look away?" he asked.  
"It's nothing" she answered quickly, starting to get nervous. Stefan raised her chin with his hand to meet her eyes. Their eyes met again and Caroline swallowed. Stefan was able to hear the pounding of her heart, which accelerated speed.  
"Caroline, please. You have to feel something."  
"For what? What's the point of feeling, Stefan?" the girl asked. "I've lost everyone and you have to understand that I don't want to live with it."  
"You have me." Stefan reminded her, with totally straight face. Caroline laughed.  
"Please, Stefan. I lost you months ago."

Stefan frowned again and released her chin with a sigh. Caroline was silent, but she began to notice a lump in her throat and a large chest tightness.

"You saved me from Enzo the other day" Stefan said.  
"So what?"  
"You had to feel something to do that."  
"Stop it, Stefan" she asked him.  
"Why?" Stefan asked, desperate.  
"Don't use what I felt for you to give my humanity back to me."  
"What you felt or what you feel?" Stefan asked. Caroline looked into his eyes and Stefan saw something different in her eyes again. She seemed more "her". Caroline shook her head, looking away once more. "You never let me tell you what I…"  
"Shut up" Caroline said, covering her ears. Stefan raised his eyebrows.  
"Really?" You have super-hearing, Caroline. You can hear me even if you cover them."  
"I don't wanna hear another word, okay? I don't want you to tell me that you feel something just to get my emotions woken up. It won't work because I know the truth."  
"You know nothing."

Stefan was silent for a few seconds and Caroline took some air.

"Why do you keep doing this to me? Do you want me to mourn each day again when I remember the death of my mum? Do you want me to be locked up without doing anything in my room all day? Want to see me unhappy? Why do you want do that to me?  
"I don't want you to be unhappy again, Caroline. I want you to be you again in order to accept all those feelings little by little as any human would do. That's what I liked about you, your human side. You're the best vampire I know. Your ability to be so imperfectly human and…"  
"So you want me to be unhappy again" she repeated. Stefan looked straight into her eyes and slowly brushed her hand with his fingers.  
"No, I just want you to overcome all of that and come back to be as human as you usually are even though you're a vampire."  
"Why?" Caroline asked him angrily.  
"Because that's what makes you you."

They looked at each other without saying anything for a few seconds. Caroline remembered that Stefan knew her very well.

"I… I can't do this" the blonde said. Caroline started to hit the door again and called Elena. Stefan clenched his jaw and grabbed her wrists to stop her.  
"Caroline, listen. I know you have a hole in your heart right now for what happened to Bonnie, with Mystic Falls, me and your mother, but I promise you that if you give me a chance this time everything will be different. If you go back to being you, I… I'll fill that hole because… because I love you, Caroline. Let me love you, please" Caroline looked scared. She tried to get rid of his hands, in vain. Stefan took her face and pressed his lips against hers hard. Caroline tried to resist, but Stefan stopped her, grabbing her harder as he moved his lips against hers desperately. Then he noticed how Caroline's body relaxed slowly against his. She grabbed his neck and pulled him closer to her, parting her lips and giving way to Stefan, who began to play with their tongues. After a few seconds, Caroline pulled away from his mouth and Stefan looked into her eyes, searching for her Caroline. There she was again.

Caroline's eyes began to fill with tears and Stefan pulled her against his chest, his arms around her to hug her. Caroline leaned her head against his chest and began to cry, grabbing Stefan's shirt tightly. The boy stroked her hair and her back, comforting her.

"It's okay, it's okay…" Stefan whispered in her hear, holding her tightly. He understood that she needed to mourn and vent now, and he did not care as he knew he would not separate from her side. He was going to be his shoulder to mourn until she would decide to stop. Stefan kissed her on the head and took her face with his hands to look at her. Her face was full of tears, but he did not remember seeing her more beautiful and prettier. "I promise I won't leave you alone, okay? No one will love you like I do, Caroline."

Caroline nodded and Stefan gave her a soft kiss on her lips. Then he looked at her again, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs to wipe her tears and giving her a comforting smile. Caroline stopped sobbing and hugged him tightly, knowing that, at least, Stefan would never leave her alone.


End file.
